ReMix: Ragnarök Online 'Brazzy Road'
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- Game: Ragnarök Online (Gravity, 2002, WIN)
- ReMixer(s): Anthony Lofton, Joshua Morse
- Composer(s): soundTeMP
- Song(s): 'Brassy Road'
- Posted: 2009-01-18, evaluated by djpretzel
- Album: Featured on Ragnarok Online : Hybridism
Q: How money am I? I'm sitting in the Starbucks at Mandalay Bay, drinking a Mocha Frappawhatever, posting a ReMix... while Anna does her law school reading. A: Not particularly money. But that's ok, we're having a good time in Vegas, catching some shows, good eats, etc. The film Once came on HBO in our hotel room and we ended up watching the whole thing - definitely recommended, one of the most deserving recipients of the usually upsetting "Best Original Song" Oscar. Unfortunately, I came away from MAG with more than just memories; had an awful cough ever since that's persisting here in Nevada. Anna's mom suggests gargling with vodka... we'll see how that turns out.
In the meantime, though, even on vacation I'm trying to ensure that 2009 sees more frequent, consistent posting of mixes. Had Joshua Morse's Hybridism been an official OC ReMix project, you probably would have seen a flood of Ragnarok mixes last year, but having them spaced out like this does have the benefit of spotlighting the album to newcomers and reminding those who may not have checked it out way back when how groovy it is. This one's another collab with Mr. Lofton, arranging 'Brassy Road' - jm gives us the breakdown:
- Lofton on organ, eps
- jm on brass, kalimbas, percussion, strings, ep @ 3:33
- rest of backing split b/w us both
Sweet organ solos, Mr. Lofton! The kalimba sets this mix apart from the duo's previous Rag mixes, giving it a more Carribean/tropical feel, prefaced with the jungle/avian sound FX. There are also some nice, really subtle funky synth bits with short attacks that for me are just as good as the flashier, more elaborate soloing. It wouldn't be Morse without a meaty funk/disco beat and ginormous bassline, both of which the track delivers, and the whole thing fades out into the same serene tropical atmosphere it begins with - but not before organ trades off with kalimba and EP for some mad soloing action. If you could level any criticism here, it's that the mix is actually a little solo-heavy; it would have been nice to pepper things with more refrain/ensemble passages. Nevertheless, it's GOOD soloing - damn good soloing - so it's hard to fault 'em on it.
This is the third mix we've posted from Hybridism, and all three have been fantastic, so I'm not sure what further persuasion anyone would need to check out the rest of the cuts. Can't wait to see what Morse & Lofton have in store for us in 2009 - this album is a hard act to follow-up, and has yielded some memorable, extraordinarily funky, and superbly-crafted ReMixes.
Discussion: Latest 15 comments/reviews; view the All the instruments just blend together seemlessly, the production is great, and everything here clicks.
A very groove oriented mix with some funk added in for good measure, with lots of electric piano and organ solos that really leaves you feeling satisfied when it ends.
Strongly recommended.
- WillRock on July 3, 2010
Loving the Motown vibe with the strings and horns, which gives great perspective to the more complex xylophone/e-piano jazz-inspired moments.
Any fear of not being able to fully get into mixes from a game as insignificant to me as Ragnarok were blown out of the water with this mix. Very cool work.
- Marmiduke on July 29, 2009
- metaphist on July 22, 2009
Fade out seemed a little long, but other than that, I'm diggin' this.
- DragonAvenger on February 1, 2009
- JaDE ARaN HaRuNo on February 1, 2009
CopiousX;500463 wrote: At 3:54 the e. piano solo was really fun, and the ensuing fade out worked very nicely. Also, the xylophone-esque instrument worked nicely in the cliche Dadada-da-da-da-da westernized Chinese phrase (It actually surprised me to hear it super-imposed on the Blues/Motown format of the rest of the song). Honestly the song works well, but beyond the "Chinese" phrase it wasn't spectacular.
P.S. Usually I don't like ambient sounds throughout a song, but that jungle track brought things together nicely.
....... wow
Someone asked me nicely to expand on the review so, for their sake, I'll share my general opinions. I happen to like this arrangement a lot, and compositionally speaking, it lends itself well. The brass fit perfectly as a counter point. There really wasn't anything that didn't fit. I'm not about pretend I'm hearing a cliché pentatonic phrase, that clearly isn't cliché, or the least bit "Chinese" either. I'm sure if I were arranging it personally, I might have changed some of the instrumentation, but let's face it, what I'd pick is trivial. This is superb work and I for one, would love to see more of it in the future.
- kaijin on January 28, 2009
P.S. Usually I don't like ambient sounds throughout a song, but that jungle track brought things together nicely.
- CopiousX on January 28, 2009
Good stuff, nice work, gents. :-)
- OA on January 19, 2009
But its obviously quite different too, and I do very much enjoy the fact that it sounds so RO'esque that one might be surprised that it wasn't in the game from the get go.
so basically, what we have here, and I mean it in a great way, is a Cover+1.
- Dark Vagabond on January 19, 2009
Its got a great, cool, funky, jazzy groove to it. :-)
Nice work.
- 42 on January 18, 2009
